Seagulls - Nasty Birds [was Re: [Leica] New Gallery]

[r.s.taylor at comcast.net (Richard S. Taylor)]

People too often think of gulls as an essential, benign element of 
the gentle seascape they carry in their heads, serving the same 
function cows do in a bucolic landscape.  In reality they are are 
large (3'wingspan), dirty, nasty beasts.

Our sailing club used to run an annual sailing race to to George's 
Island in Boston Harbor with a clam bake on the island afterwards. 
A group of us took a walk around the island after eating and soon 
found ourselves in the midst of a gull nesting area - which we had 
been warned to avoid but had stumbled into anyway.  We must have 
missed the gulls early warning cries because the bombing runs started 
before we'd even had a chance to reverse course.  Almost at once we 
were living a real-life version of Hitchcock's "The Birds."

It was all over in a minute but let me tell you, you cannot get rid 
of a determined gull by swatting at him with your arms.  None of us 
were a match for these furious flying Ninjas.  We all went home 
surprised, chastened, and newly wary of the species.  One of our 
group took home something extra - a badly bloodied head (not me, BTW, 
I was wearing a hat).

The seagull is not your friend.

Regards,

Dick
Boston Harbor


>When I lived in Gloucester I got to know some seagulls as 
>individuals.  One -- a native of nearby Rockport, apparently -- I 
>named Winston because of his Churchillian bearing and demeanor. If a 
>seagull could smoke a cigar, he would have. This was one tough son 
>of a gun who was obviously the "alpha bird" of his flock.  One 
>afternoon I was sitting on the rocks pictured in the "Ant-Free 
>Picnic" photo (many are actually concrete slabs) sharing some 
>tortilla chips with a few gulls when Winston landed in their midst. 
>As he barked at them, the other gulls backed off quickly leaving him 
>to enjoy the  lunch  alone.  A minute or so later a large female 
>gull landed next to Winston.  This old gal must have been his mate 
>because Winston instantly dropped his food, leaving it for her.  She 
>then advanced towards me, snatching a chip out of in my hand and 
>then dragging the bag away.  It was the only time I left litter on 
>Cape Ann!
>
>Craig
>
>
>_______________________________________________
>Leica Users Group.
>See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information